a tough one on As more and more students head back to school, they are feeling a lighter burden thanks to fewer Standards of Learning tests. Earlier this year, the Virginia General Assembly voted to have fewer sol tests for third and fifth grade students. So now that there is no test, how are teachers adjusting their lessons? wdbj7 Education Reporter David Kaplan spoke with several education leaders today. Teachers and principals i spoke with say not much will change. Third graders no longer have to take tests in Science and Social Studies. Fifth graders don't have to stress about a big, two-day writing test. But every school leader i spoke to says that doesn't mean they're just going to forget about those subjects. There is definitely a sense of relief. We're not going to change a lot of what we do When you hear the phrase standards of learning, most people think of the tests. Anytime you mention the word test, that natural anxiety comes up. Now, for those few subjects, the focus turns to the standards; guidelines given by the state for these subjects that many schools still plan to follow. In Montgomery County, Belview Elementary School Principal Tara Grant loves it. Tara Grant, Principal: I'm thrilled to death. As a parent, i have a third grader, and as a principal, I'm thrilled to death too because that's lots of days of testing and preparation. Jessica Jones has taught elementary school students for 15 years. She says she'll still focus the same amount of effort on writing even though her kids will be evaluated by her instead of the state. These kids have a lot to learn, and we have a lot to teach, and we are still doing that even though there's not a test. We're always reading, we're always writing, doing math, we have science and social studies every day, that's not going to change. We're doing what's mandated by the state and what's mandated by our county. a recent Gallup poll shows support for the nationwide education standards known as Common Core is dropping. Virginia was one of six states that didn't adopt Common Core for many reasons, one of them being an over-reliance on standardized testing as a benchmark. Some education experts say Virginia's self-imposed sol form could be an indication the Commonwealth is on the leading edge of public education by putting more power in the teachers hands. David Kaplan, wdbj7.

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